Destiny has become a topic of conversation. It is my destiny, I suspect, never to be liked very much because the game of football doesn’t much care for opinion givers. We’re a pest.
But, as Fergus McCann said when he ran Celtic in the 1990s, and Pedro Caixinha repeated at Rangers three decades later, a dog barks and the caravan moves on. And since I have a caravan in the East Neuk of Fife I can say that with deadly accuracy. Michael Beale has finally clocked on at Ibrox as manager and it is under interesting circumstances.
A nine-point deficit in a league championship is an allowable juncture at which to take stock and make arrangements for a change of manager if you’re the disadvantaged club. Giovanni van Bronckhorst could have no issue with that on a practical level now he’s in receipt of his severance money. But a nine-point deficit after 15 games in a 38-match league does not determine title winner from runner-up.
In terms of self-belief, Beale would appear to lack nothing. I have rarely observed a man so transparently comfortable in his own skin. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It would be a source of worry for all concerned at Ibrox if he’d taken the job while being a self-conscious bag of nerves. He also has a record there of having a seven-game run of matches against Celtic in which he was never on the losing side working with Steven Gerrard.
Fatalists will say that’s handy when dealing with that nine-point deficit and having Celtic to play three times before the end of the season. A season soon to resume after a World Cup break so long it’ll seem like two seasons in one. Beale’s side will return on a competitive basis against Hibs on December 15. It was a game against Hibs in August which demonstrated all that was wrong with van Bronckhorst’s team. They were twice in front at Easter Road and still didn’t take all three points.
James Tavernier had a suspect afternoon in defence, illustrated when Hibs got their first equaliser in a 2-2 draw. Alfredo Morelos came on as a sub with a surly demeanour and was sent off for an off-the-ball display of petulance. This reduced Rangers to nine men as John Lundstram had been red carded for a rash challenge. Tom Lawrence scored and then went off injured, never to be seen from that day to this.
And, inevitably, the understrength visitors eventually conceded a belated leveller to round off a miserable day. Undone by a combination of carelessness, recklessness and undeniable misfortune into the bargain. Beale will now have Rangers suited and booted, quite literally, since personal grooming has acquired a high placing on the club’s agenda, for a change of personality. But it’s Lee Johnson I feel sorry for – if it wasn’t for bad luck the Hibs manager would have no luck at all.
Since the day of that draw with Rangers, his best player, Martin Boyle, has suffered the injury that ended his season. Ryan Porteous, his second-best player, has declined a contract extension and sparked the predictable debate about how committed he’ll be when there’s a transfer window on the horizon in January.
And Hibs have lost six of their last seven matches, seven out of eight if you count the friendly against Middlesborough just last weekend. Beale might still have the why factor as opposed to the wow factor for some people and a 6/10 rating from Ally McCoist but I’d put the keys to the caravan on Hibs getting a resounding going-over while being sacrificial lambs at Ibrox.
Before then, though, there are situations over which Beale can have no influence, like Tuesday's AGM of shareholders at Ibrox and the ongoing war of attrition between chairman Douglas Park and the man who would be King by name and status. Fans want an improvement in performances and attitude on the pitch.
The AGM is about division and animosity off the park. Dave King will vote against Park’s continuation as chairman and play on his own standing as the man of the people. None of which need concern the manager. Whoever runs the club will expect the same of him – success in the form of over-throwing Celtic. It was King, however, who said at the start of the season he would have “much rather” have won the league than got to Seville for the Europa League Final lost to Eintracht Frankfurt. Beale’s job definition is therefore clear. If it was his destiny to become Rangers manager then it is also his obligation to win the title. But even destiny comes with consequences.
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